Five Bands We'd Love To See Reunite!

If the Spice Girls can put aside their differences, why can't these bands?

With the massive headline news that the Spice Girls have (eventually) decided to reunite once again, nailing on a huge stadium tour of the UK next summer, it got us thinking – what other bands would we love to see reform?

Below are five bands from the worlds of pop and rock who are still holding out on the lucrative reunion dollar – all their members are still alive, so come on guys, bring it on!

Forming in 2002 through the shortlived ITV show ‘Popstars: The Rivals’, Girls Aloud in many ways performed the same role as the aforementioned Spice Girls in the Noughties, rushing in to plug the gap in demand left by the Spices’ demise. Boasting a fleet of hits the size of the Soviet navy, the potential is there for a reunion.

Noughties pop darlings Girls Aloud in 2013

However, Girls Aloud have already reformed once, coming out of a three-year hiatus in 2012 for their 10th anniversary, marking it with that year’s Children In Need single and a significant UK tour, before breaking up again in 2013.

The tenth anniversary of the Gallagher brothers’ acrimonious fall-out, after Oasis suddenly disbanded in Paris near the end of their tour for 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul album, is due next summer.

Demand for Oasis has never really gone away in the intervening time, with both Liam and Noel carving out successful solo careers, and with ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ re-emerging into popular consciousness after the Manchester terror attacks. Ever since their split, the press has scoured every comment from both of them for signs of a truce.

All eyes on Noel for an Oasis reunion!

However, the power of life or death over this one realistically lies with Noel. Oasis minus Noel equals Beady Eye, and nobody wants that.

Now, these guys have already reunited twice. Once in 2006, which lasted a year, and a second time in 2012, but memorably without J Brown meaning that 5ive were actually 4our.

4our out of 5ive

However, 5ive are one of those weird late Nineties bands who actually had a lot more hits than you remember them having had. Over a lifespan of three albums in five years, they notched up a colossal ten UK Top Five hits. If packaged and marketed correctly, another reunion tour could be a real money spinner.

One of America’s finest ever indie bands, R.E.M. went from college-rock obscurity to global stadium tours in the space of a decade. However, their split came suddenly – just six months after releasing their 15th studio album Collapse Into Now in 2011, they announced via their website they were calling it a day. Hard-bitten fans, expecting a world tour, didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye!

R.E.M. performing live in 2008

However, though they’re all endeavouring with solo careers and it being difficult to see such a principled band grabbing the reunion dollar, there’s an outside chance that more than one of the band’s members begins to feel like there’s unfinished business here.

The Smiths are obviously the big, big one on the reunion wishlist for indie fans around the world. The dedication of the Mancunian group’s fanbase is beyond legendary, and any reunion announcement would be nailed on to generate untold millions for the quartet.

It's very difficult to see Morrissey going for a reunion with Marr

However, while bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce have occasionally said they’d be up for it, the rancorous fall-out between the group’s songwriting core Morrissey and Johnny Marr from their 1987 split – anybody who’s read Morrissey’s Autobiography will attest to the bitterness of the mid-1990s court case – means that pigs are more likely to fly before we see a Smiths reunion.